Hidden Affections
by Hydro Dexter
Summary: He watched on, gazing upon the beauty of a goddess. All he wished was to grab her attention, but what he didn't realize is that he had already captured her heart. K27 One-Shot


Tsuna sat in his chair, intolerably bored, well, mainly due to his lack of understanding. Sure, he would admit that he was a loser, a klutz and even a "dim child". That was why he didn't even try in school anymore.

But one day, he decided to look up during class and saw the most beautiful girl he had ever seen working out a math problem in the front of the class. Her name was Sasagawa Kyoko, a name he quickly learned from the murmurings of the class. Many proclaimed her to be the reincarnation of Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty. And Tsuna couldn't agree more. Her hair was a beautiful golden brown and her smile... he couldn't describe it except for it being _radiant_.

_If I could just grab her attention, then I think my time here in school may be worth it_ he thought to himself as he stared at his newfound crush.

This gave him a burning desire to do better in school and impress Kyoko. But suprisingly, he began to get lower grades than when he had no motivation... if that was possible, thought many. He got distracted during class, unable to focus during tests and even found himself failing P.E. because he couldn't stop staring at Kyoko in her uniform. But never once did he gain her attention... or from what he knew of.

_Damn! I'm doing worse than before! At this rate, I'll never be able to impress Kyoko!_ he thought to himself as the teacher revealed his most recent test score. 9% correct.

The class started bursting into laughter at the sight of the poor test score. The worst besides that had been a 69%. "Dame Tsuna is giving new meanings to stupid!" one of his classmates exclaimed as Tsuna just buried his face in his textbook... a first in his book.

Kyoko watched as her classmates tormented the poor kid. When she heard one of her classmates insult Tsuna, she felt a daggar stab at her. When she first joined their class at the start of the semester, she just watched as the kids insulted the boy. But as time went on, the pain grew more and more until she had to leave the classroom due to the pain she felt.

To her, it was unexplainable. Maybe she just felt sorry for him and didn't like to see others hurt. A good guess, but she eventually figured out that she had fallen for the boy. She didn't know how she had fallen for him, but she felt this certain aura around the boy that was... unexplainable. Sure, he had terrible grades, poor athleticism and no self-confidence. But she always wondered how he was able to tolerate the teasing and the bullying he encountered daily. She knew he had a pure heart and never held hate against others.

As she was staring at him, she didn't notice that next to her, her best friend Kurokawa Hana snickered when she noticed where her Kyoko was directing her attention towards. "Kyoko," she whispered in her ear. "Do you happen to like him?"

This caused her to blush deeply, but managed to squeak out, "No, he's just a classmate," but even she knew it would be futile. She was very good at hiding her affections to the point that even her best friend would have trouble reading her. But this time, Hana knew she had caught her best friend. She knew that if someone really didn't like Tsuna, they'd call him a loser.

But she just stood by as the class was told to silence themselves so that the teacher could continue with the lecture.

When the day ended, Tsuna just walked into his room and plopped himself on top of his bed and began to reflect on his life. _Man, at this rate, Kyoko-chan will never notice me. I bet even she considers me to be a loser now_ he thought to himself. _I guess I should just give up. Considering all the cool boys at our school, she'll probably fall for one of them_ eventually and just went back into a depressed state of mind as he mentally stated his surrender.

During the next couple of weeks, Tsuna tried his best to stay positive. But he even admitted it to himself that Kyoko was his only reason for going to school. He struggled even more and even resorted to ditching school.

"Dame Tsuna is ditching again? Man, there is no way that loser is going to get into a good school at this rate!" the class laughed again when hearing that Tsuna had been marked absent.

This just caused Kyoko to worry. This was the third time during the week that he had ditched, and she wanted to do something. But she felt powerless. She would've cried again if she didn't feel a strong hand on her shoulder, seeing her best friend giving her a reassuring smile, which she believed to tell her, "He will be here tomorrow. Don't worry. He's a loser, but he's not bad." She took Hana's advice and refocused her attention on the class at hand.

When he got his home, his mom was shocked to see her son home at 12:40pm. "Tsu-kun! This is the third time this week you have ditched school! At this rate, you will be expelled," his mom yelled as she saw her son walk up the stairs. As he walked, she saw an empty look on his, which worried her. "He's just like his father. He also ditched school for some reason. Though he never told me why..."

_I can't do this anymore_ Tsuna thought to himself. _I can't stand school anymore. I just wish I could see Kyoko-chan's sweet smile once again, just like I did when she was in front of the class the first time I saw her. Once I do, I'll quit school _but when he listened to his thoughts, he realized that he sounded like a stalker. But he didn't care. He was too fatigued and heart sick to care anymore.

He sat at his desk the next day, unable to piece together why he had to go to school. _If she just didn't threaten me with kicking me out of the house, I SO would've ditched again..._ but he looked to see Kyoko talking with her friend. He didn't know her friend, but for one second, he could've sworn he made eye contact with her.

That one second passed by so slowly, yet so quickly as neither were able to decipher what had happened. They just looked at themselves for a moment but just returned to their normal activities. _These two are so dense_ Hana thought to herself, but she just grabbed a seat next to her best friend.

_Was I staring at Sawada-san?_ Kyoko asked herself mentally, taking another look at the brown haired boy. But she tricked herself to believe she was imagining things and looked up at the chalkboard.

The bell rang, waking Tsuna. But he didn't realize he had slept through multiple bells, looking at the clock to see the school day dissolved in his dreams. Everyone had already left the classroom and he was left alone to ponder to himself. "Well, at least the day's over," grabbing his stuff and getting ready to leave. But he was surprised to see a pink pillow where his head had rested. "That's strange..." picking up the pillow. "I know I didn't have this pillow to begin," only able to come up with one reason: someone put it there for him.

"I hope it was Kyoko-chan," Tsuna said to himself, smiling to himself as he picked up the pillow, making his way homeward.

"Tsu-kun! You ditched again?" his mom asked, but he ignored her. And what better way to ignore a parent than to read the newest issue of Weekly Jump? "Good thing I hired that new home tutor," only shocking her son.

"Nani?" almost losing his page in his Jump.

"It was in a flyer," showing him the flyer. He looked at the flyer with disgust. "Will train you to be the leader of the next generation. Grade subject doesn't matter - Reborn." she read.

"This is stupid. I don't want a home tutor!" he yelled in disgust. But who knew that his life would be changed forever starting with one word.

"Ciaosuu." The two Sawadas turned to see a baby in a suit. But not just any baby. This baby would be the cause of many of the white hairs grown during Tsuna's teenage years.

And who would've thought that on his first day in Japan, the baby would cause Tsuna to confess his love to the girl he so deeply admired. "I love you!" he exclaimed, currently in his Reborn state. Kyoko was unable to say anything. She was in shock. But there was only one thing she could think of doing: run. And she followed her instinct well and dashed to the school as quickly as her petite legs could carry her and locked herself in a stall in the girl's bathroom.

_Did he just do that? Did he just confess his love for me?_ she asked herself. She was still processing the scene through her head and could've sworn she squealed in delight. But suddenly, a memory of a warning passed from her best friend.

_Kyoko, you take things too literally. You need to lighten up and laugh at a few jokes here and there_ Hana had said to her, which she kept close to her since.

_Was he joking? No, Sawada-san isn't one who usually jokes. But..._ she thought again eventually thinking of a way to get around this. _If he was joking, maybe I can take this opportunity to become friends with him. _

When she got back to the class room, she saw Tsuna, but this time, he was hiding himself under his desk. _What happened?_ she asked, just entering into the conflict.

Tsuna was taking refuge under his desk, which he believed to be the only safe place on this earth. Everyone was calling him a hentai, but how was it his fault? It was all that baby's fault. If he just didn't meet that baby, then maybe he would've avoided this situation. And now, he embarrassed himself in front of Kyoko.

_Why does the world hate me? If you hate me so much, Kami-san, why don't you just relieve me of this suffering?_ he thought to himself, but suddenly, he heard slam open. Curious, he popped his head into the open. He saw Mochida-senpai walk up to him and grab him by the collar. "Meet me at the dojo after school. There, we will decide once and for all who desereves Kyoko!" storming out of the room as quickly as he had entered.

He tried to avoid it at all cost, but today just had to be the day when time passed quickly during school. _Damn it! How is already three o'clock?_ he asked himself, opening the classroom door to see his classmates all lined up to insult.

"Great, just the sort of thing you have to suffer before you get your ass whooped," he muttered to himself, not noticing Kyoko staring at him with fear.

But as she was lost in thought, she heard her friends say to her, "Come on, let's go see Mochida-senpai fight for your love."

"Ano.. I-" she started before her friends grabbed her and ran towards the dojo. When they got there, they only saw Mochida ready to fight. _Wait, where's Sawada-san?_ Kyoko asked herself, looking throughout the crowd, but to no avail.

Tsuna was walking down the hall, unable to believe what had happened today. "Well, that's just another embarrassing moment forever engraved in my history. But who cares? I can't win anyways," making his way towards the door to leave, only to see a gun pointed at his head. "Not again...

The students waited for the anticipated beat-down of the century. Dame-Tsuna had the nerve to confess to Kyoko and apparently scared the living day out of her. "Where is he?"

"I bet he ran away again!" another student answered, which was clearly believable. But many students were rowdy, waiting for a fight. And that students were placing bets on who wins, though it was insurmountably in Mochida's favor.

Believing that he wouldn't show up, the students began to disperse. But suddenly, the door slammed open, and out came the hentai they were waiting for. "There he is! Dame-Hentai-Tsuna!" they were exclaiming, but before their eyes, suddenly Tsuna charged at Mochida, shocking them. It was crazy to charge without armor, especially against Mochida. "What the hell is he doing?"

_Sawada-san?_ Kyoko asked, unable to process what was happening. But suddenly, every student in the school was shocked to see Tsuna get on top of the Captain of the Kendo Club. Many cusses were heard, many shocked gasps and especially the sound of hair getting pulled out filled the dojo as the battle soon reached an end.

"Sawada is victorious," shocking everyone in the room.

"What the hell? Did anyone bet on him?" one of the students asked, only to hear chuckling come from behind him. "Takeshi! You bastard. I wonder how much money you'll make today."

Tsuna's eyes lost intensity as he turned his head to see his teary-eyed senpai without any hair. "Did... did I do that?" he asked himself. But suddenly, he found himself swarmed by classmates who had just seconds ago called him a hentai. From the crowd, he saw Kyoko standing above him, standing up to greet her. "Um... Kyo-"

"I'm sorry about what I did today!" she exclaimed, bowing her head. "My friends tell me I'm too literal," she said, shocking him.

_She thought it was a joke?_ he exclaimed to himself as she continued to talk. Kyoko didn't know whether his confession was the truth or not. But she didn't want to take the risk. She knew if they were truly meant for each other, the day would come when they can truly love each other.

Five years later, Tsuna stood over the lake that held many memories. He saved Haru from drowning, he learned how to swim and he almost drowned thousands of times in this lake. But he felt connected to it. He turned to see Kyoko ready to meet him. She was dressed in a red dress and her hair had grown out more than it had when she was 13. She looked to see the boy of her dreams dressed in a tuxedo. She still didn't know why she was asked to dress in nice clothing if it was just a casual meeting.

They sat till the night, staring at the lake. Kyoko had started to feel tired, which Tsuna had realized. "Here," opening his shoulder up. "Use my shoulder if you want to sleep."

"Are you sure it's okay?" she asked, skeptical.

"Sure, you let me use your pillow when we were younger during school, so just think of this as repayment," he laughed, but Kyoko was shocked. She didn't remember telling him that it was hers. Heck, she didn't even think he'd remember that memory.

"But... how did you?" she asked, but felt a pillow in her hands. "Well, thanks," putting the pillow by her side.

"Look inside the pillow," he said, which she did. She searched the pillow until she finally felt something like a box. She took it out and asked, "What is this?"

"Open it," he told her, as she soon gazed upon what was inside.

"Tsuna-kun... does this mean...?" she asked, almost in disbelief.

"Yes," getting on one knee and grabbing her hand as she stood up on instinct before he said the magic words.

"Sasagawa Kyoko. Will you marry me?" he said, holding the ring box in her hand. She was having a difficult time holding the tears in, eventually grabbing Tsuna and pressing her lips on his. As they were kissing, the two fell to the ground and started to roll towards the river and soon fell in.

Even in the river, the two continued to kiss the other passionately, but they would soon have to get out of the water, lest Tsuna once again drown in the lake. When they got out, the two stared into the other's eyes passionate.

As he was staring at her, he noticed something leaning on his shoulder, looking to see Kyoko's head resting there. "You said I could use your shoulder as a pillow, right?" she asked, chuckling.

This caused him to laugh, as he grabbed her head and pulled his in close. "Who said you couldn't?" as the two drifted off into a wonderful slumber. Another memory had been made for Tsuna at this river, and he'd have it no other way than to have it with Kyoko, the girl he had loved for years.

* * *

><p><strong>This is my first KHR fanfic, so go easy on me. I have trouble with romantic scenes, but I hope you all enjoyed it! <strong>

**If you can, I'd like some reviews or critique on how I can do better. But if you liked it, don't be hesitant to voice it out!**


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